128th Repatriation Ceremony

In honor of every fallen service member who lost their life defending our country and for their families who wait to receive closure, I dedicate this entry to you.

On Friday, December 6^th, Douglas and I attended the 128^th Repatriation Ceremony held at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi. For those unaware, repatriation is the process of returning a person to their place of origin or citizenship, which includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war. – Wikipedia

Hanoi houses the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), one of the three permanent overseas detachments in Southeast Asia. The job of JPAC is to assist with command and control, logistics, and in-country support during investigation and recovery operations. Its mission is to conduct global search, recovery, and laboratory operations to identify unaccounted-for Americans from past conflicts, such as World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. To read more about JPAC visit http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/ 

For decades our military have worked tirelessly to locate each fallen service member who fought in the above wars, and bring some type of closure to their families who still mourn their loss.

All members of the U.S. Embassy and their families were invited to attend this ceremony. The ceremony is usually held in Da Nang, Vietnam. It has not taken place in Hanoi in almost a year. Since the opportunity to see a Repatriation Ceremony is so rare, many Americans chose to attend.

This ceremony was conducted to repatriate remains believed to be of U.S. service members unilaterally turned over by Vietnamese citizens during the 113^th Joint Field Activity in Vietnam back to the United States. The remains are flown to Hawaii and taken to the Central Identification Laboratory where forensic anthropologists analyze the human remains and certain material evidence. The process for a service member's remains to be properly vetted and identified can take years. It could be decades before the families of the fallen are informed that the remains of that individual was their loved one.

I cannot help but feel proud to be a citizen of such a country that will not stop until the thousands of troops that went “Missing in Action” are all accounted for. When I think of the challenges I face day-to-day, I will be certain to pause and consider the challenges each member of JPAC faces head on every day. Even with such a bleak looking victory in front of them, they still move forward. It was an honor for us to attend this solemn ceremony and pay our respects to the service member who sacrificed him/herself for all of us to have our freedom today. As is written on the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, this statement could not be more true - “Freedom is not free.”   

Fallen heroes, I thank you. 

This C-130 carried the detail in charge of the ceremony.

The Hanoi JPAC Detachment is Detachment #2

The flight crew readies for the ceremony.

These individuals take part in the the official signing of the repatriation documents.

The man seated in the white shirt is the Hanoi JPAC Detachment Commander.

The ceremony began with the Army Detail departing the plane.

Two soldiers take their place behind the remains (brown box) while the detail leader reports to the Detachment Commander.

The long metal box is used for transport and protection of the remains.

As seen in many ceremonies of its kind, the transport case is draped in the American flag.

Extreme attention was paid to respecting the remains throughout the ceremony.

The detail leader reports the mission complete.

He is the last member of the detail to board the plane before the flight crew closes the doors and prepares for takeoff.